


this is not a trap

by ccj



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Angst, Bigtime Angst, F/F, F/M, Threats of Violence, it's platonic eugene and cass w/ discussion of the other ships, wasn't sure how to tag ship wise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22029460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccj/pseuds/ccj
Summary: “Cassandra, you loved Rapunzel, didn’t you?”“I served her.” She spits it out. She’s never been one for I love yous. Her dad wasn’t. Mother Gothel wasn’t. Why should she? Rapunzel can keep love. Cass has power.“Cassandra. No. You werein lovewith Rapunzel.”Cass drops her sword.
Relationships: Cassandra & Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider (Disney), Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 15
Kudos: 279





	this is not a trap

**Author's Note:**

> Just writing the angsty but brutally honest Cass and Eugene confrontation of my dreams! TW for mention of/threat of violence (spoiler: no one dies lol so do not fear!). Just lots of feelings and gratuitous Cass and Eugene parallels!

Eugene is already awake when Cass climbs through his window at 3 AM. She’s silently cursing the moonstone for glowing so bright and undoing all her stealth when she comes face to face with him, sitting in bed upright, eating an apple.

“It’s about time.” He yawns, blinking at her. She blinks back, stopped in her tracks. “I was getting sleepy. Take a seat.” He nods to the foot of the bed. She stares at him, wondering for a moment if she’s dreaming, still asleep nestled under a bridge just outside of Corona’s city limits. “Come on, I’m sure you need to catch your breath from that climb. I mean...” He lets out a low whistle. “I know I would.”

She moves slowly across the room, eventually sitting down across from him, sword still drawn, directed at him. He doesn’t have a weapon anywhere in sight, which makes him all the more dangerous. This could easily be a-

“It’s not a trap.” He takes another bite of his apple and holds it out to her as an offering. She crinkles her nose. “No? Alright. Suit yourself. Just feels rude to not offer anything to a guest, even if it’s half eaten.” He takes a bite.

“Alright, what are you aiming at _Eugene_?” She has to stop herself from stuttering over his name. It’s been awhile since she’s said it out loud. More so than dreams, she has nightmares. Most nights, she wakes up yelling _Raps_ or _Dad_ or _Mother_. Eugene isn’t really on the docket.

“Nothing. Well actually, good health.” He shakes the apple. “You know what they say, apple a day, yadda yadda yadda. It seems to be working for Max.” He chuckles in that way he always does at his own bad jokes. If they weren’t sitting in darkness, illuminated only by the moon stone and the moon itself, Cass would be able to convince herself that no time has passed.

If her hair weren’t bright blue and she didn’t have a sword pointed at him, she’d be able to convince herself that Rapunzel was changing into her pajamas before joining them for a bedtime story from Eugene. Cass hated Eugene’s stories but she loved to watch Rapunzel while she watched him and pretend she was looking at her instead.

“Blondie said she felt you getting closer.” Cass’s eyes jump upwards towards him. “She assumes you’re coming for her but I was pretty sure your plan would be to take me out first, you know, so it’s just you against her. I mean...that is your plan, right?” Cass doesn’t answer. “Right.”

“Alright, enough with the chit chat.” She lifts her sword, presses the end of it to his chin, and focuses all her energy on not shaking. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Eh.” Her hand may waver (a bit, just a bit, it’s probably not even noticeable, honestly) but Eugene stays perfectly still. “The thing is, I’ve been thinking lately.”

Cass’s eyes flick towards the door but it remains shut. Still, she watches. Waits. “You’re a weak distraction, Fitzherbert.”

“Not a distraction, not a trap,” he says in a sing song voice. “Some of us are still trustworthy, believe it or not. Anyways..” He clears his throat, the sword vibrating a bit against his skin as he does. “Rapunzel’s been talking to me lately about how you felt like you were second place to her and how that hurts her. How she wished she’d realized it sooner. And then I realized...and honestly, I don’t know how I didn’t see it sooner myself.”

He pauses and she knows it’s for dramatic effect and she shouldn’t take the bait. She’s got him cornered. He really doesn’t have a weapon in hand and she has her sword inches away from his throat she could just press down, metal to skin, and- “What?” She groans. “See what sooner?”

“That you felt second place to me too.”

Cass laughs, a wicked laugh, a laugh that every “villain” has to master. Hers didn’t come easily, like most things in Cass’s life. “Oh wow Eugene. You know, you’re a lot funnier than I ever gave you credit for.”

“Cassandra, you loved Rapunzel, didn’t you?”

“I served her.” She spits it out. She’s never been one for I love yous. Her dad wasn’t. Mother Gothel wasn’t. Why should she? Rapunzel can keep love. Cass has power.

“Cassandra. No. You were _in love_ with Rapunzel.”

Cass drops her sword. It doesn’t fall with a clatter, just the soft bumping noise of metal hitting mattress. Eugene moves his legs easily so he doesn’t get so much as scraped. He tucks his legs up to his chest and sets his chin on his knees, looking at her expectantly.

“You know what, I’m gonna do you a favor and take that as a yes.” Eugene sets his apple on his bedside table, then slowly moves his hands forward. “This is not a trap,” he whispers and reaches for her hands. She flinches them backward instinctively. He seems to predict the movement and juts a hand forward fast, taking her hand, her burnt hand, in his easily. “That must have...hurt. I mean sure, she got your destiny but I got yours too, right?”

“Rapunzel is not my destiny.” She rips her hand back and he lets her. “Love is not my destiny. I’m not built like you two are.” She reaches for the sword. This is ridiculous. She doesn’t need to hear this. She doesn’t need his sympathy or his stupid pitying eyes or his-

“Except I am built like you. I mean more so than Rapunzel is, even. She was kidnapped but you and I?” He lifts a hand and she jumps but he simply points between the two of them. “We were abandoned. And you did everything right at probably every single step that I did everything wrong.” He lets out a soft chuckle, followed by a wince. “And I mean _everything_. And still, I just...became the prince of Corona overnight while you became lady in waiting.”

It feels like a slap in the face or maybe every punch she’s ever received in battle combined. She wants to scream: _you think I don’t know that?_ She wants to yell: _you think that doesn’t keep me up at night?_ She wants to shout: _that’s what I mean when I say we are not built the same. Things don’t just fall into my lap, they get there tooth claw and nail_. Instead, she says, “I don’t do sloppy seconds. I never wanted Corona.”

“No. But you wanted its princess.” It’s a statement not a question. Still, he waits for her response. When it doesn’t come, he says, “Cass, I am so sorry. I can’t even begin to imagine what that hurt feels like. But-”

“But what? What, Fitzherbert? Why did you even bring this all up? Just so you can humiliate me before you attempt-” She reaches for her sword, jumps off the stupid bed, and stands above him, sword drawn. “-to finish me?”

“This is not a trap,” Eugene repeats.

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because it’s not.” He shrugs. “This is not a trap...it’s me hoping I’ve realized soon enough. It’s me telling you that...no one ever said you can’t have a happily ever after too.” He lifts what’s left of his apple up, sticks it into the end of the sword. The juice spills out, overflowing, and the core of the apple stays there, making the sharp point blunt. “She’d give you one. Any other princess wouldn’t but she would, even now. And I think you know that.”

Then, Eugene moves towards the foot of the bed, slowly moves the blanket up, and tucks himself in. “Now if you’d excuse me, I’d love to catch some ZZZs before whatever goes down tomorrow. I may not _need_ beauty sleep but I sure do enjoy it.”

“How do you know I won’t just kill you?” she asks, forcing her voice to come out as a snarl as much as she can. “And don’t say I don’t have it in me.”

“Please, I’d never pull a cliche like that out on you. I’m gobsmacked you don’t think better of me! Gobsmacked!” Eugene pulls the blanket up to his chin and for a moment, she just sees his eyes and just sees the child in him. That’s always been the one part of Eugene she’s fully understood: the child whose parents left him for dead without an explanation. The child who he does everything for now, as if to say, _look how far we’ve come kid._

“Maybe you do have it in you to kill someone.” Cass doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. _Look how far we’ve come kid_ , she thinks to herself, to little Cassandra alone in her cottage, sweeping away another day worth forgetting. “But you don’t have it in you to break Rapunzel’s heart beyond repair. I’m pretty sure you’d rather kill her than hurt her. Present emotional trauma aside of course.”

Cass’s eyes go wide as Eugene shuts his. She pulls her sword back, pushing the apple off and dropping it onto the floor. Then, she heads back to the window. She’s not going to kill a man without a fight, at least not this one. At least not now.

“Cass?” Eugene calls out when she already has one leg hanging over the windowsill. She turns her head and expects to see the entire Corona guard behind him, her dad at the helm, one of her regularly cycled through nightmares come to life at last. But it’s just Eugene, lying there, looking at her. It’s not a trap. It’s just him, weaponless, vulnerable in every way that she knows betrays the child of the streets in him.

“If you put aside this whole blue haired, moon stone wielding, destroying Corona and maybe the whole world phase…” Eugene says, “I think maybe you deserve her more than I ever have. I just thought you should know that I know that. I always have.”

Cass’s mouth forms an O shape but the word can’t quite leave her mouth. Eugene closes his eyes and turns over, settling his hands under his cheek.

Cass steps out of his window, closing it behind her. Then, she propels downward and tries her best to focus on listening to the stone beating in her chest and not the heart beneath it.

**Author's Note:**

> Ty for reading! :) Comments are always appreciated! End of season 3 soon wa hoo!!


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